Opinion: Mayor Mike denies it again

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Hmmm, it’s probably just a coincidence, one of those flukey chance things that just seems to happen and then bored journalists on a slow summer day make way too much of it.

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the current billionaire and former Democrat who became a Republican and then last spring declared himself an independent with no interest in running for president, is buying up all kinds of website names. Websites with names like mike2008.com. Or mbloomberg.com. Or michaelbloomberg.com.

At the same time, Bloomberg has stepped up his travels around the country. He told ‘Good Morning America’ this week it’s ‘just an accident’ that his speeches take him to ‘big states’ like Missouri, where he addressed the National Urban League along with several presidential candidates.

‘I’ve got a job and it’s a great job, and I’m going to finish this job,’ said the mayor, whose term runs through 2009, adding...

‘And my next career is going to be in philanthropy.’

Still, he said, he would continue to speak out on issues but would endorse no one candidate. ‘I have to work with everybody,’ he says, ‘with whoever gets elected.’

He did make one observation about the ongoing presidential primary races. ‘What I don’t hear,’ he said, ‘which I’d love to hear some candidate say, ‘I don’t know.’ No candidate or elected official can have an answer for everything, every time.’

Not yet anyway.

--Andrew Malcolm